In which Thomas Kessler returns, new Big Bad Faye Richardson rains on just about every parade and meeting/conversation the partners have, Louis learns how to bowl, and Dule Hill/Alex tap dances at last. Oh, and new couple Harvey & Donna are kinda sweet to each other at work now that they’re in a relationship.
Sam takes on a pro bono case to help out an old army buddy named Lucas, who wants to sue his employer for firing him in favour of hiring someone’s son. Turns out Lucas has PTSD and was fired with cause for erratic and unreliable behaviour, only he can’t be treated for his PTSD because he doesn’t want a diagnosis to go on his record forever and affect his future job chances.
When Special Master Faye Richardson hears about the politically sensitive case, she forbids Sam from using any of the firm’s resources on it and from employing any of her usual dirty tricks. Sam tries to get Katrina involved on the sly, but Katrina will only work on it in her spare time, because she has a firmer grasp of the rule-following approach to life than Sam does. The employer offers a $25K settlement. Sam wants more and is prepared to extort for it, Faye be damned, but Katrina points out that what Lucas really needs is treatment. Sam offers Lucas an on-paper job working with her, for 100K a year, but only if he seeks help.
All the partners clash with Faye, who interrupts their secret bitch/ scheming sessions with lines like, “What is wrong with you people?” and tells them they must convince her they’re capable of flying right. Step 1 according to her: take Zane’s name off the wall (this again). Sam is dead-opposed, of course, but off the name goes. She threatens to quit, but Harvey convinces her not to, because it will make the firm look bad.
Faye humiliates Louis on two occasions in front of his precious associates, when he is being his ridiculous self. Alex takes him bowling to help him blow off steam. When Louis admits that his only sports experience was high school wrestling, Alex not only confesses to his tap dancing past, he briefly demonstrates it. In bowling shoes.
Louis cheers up long enough to congratulate Donna on her new coupledom with Harvey, and to ask for details on Harvey’s technique, which Donna will not give. Soon Louis is in trouble with Faye again when he tries to fire Benjamin the IT guy for being honest. Faye tells Louis he must step down as managing partner or resign.
Donna and Harvey are chirpy together at work now that they’re also fucking. The firm is in crisis, but their bantering continues, with references to the famous can opener, Superman (that’s Harvey), Lana Lang and Lois Lane (Donna is both of them). But they worry that their past legal/ethical transgressions will be revealed to Faye when she requests an exit interview with Thomas Kessler about why he dropped the firm as his lawyers.
To keep Kessler from telling Faye all, they try to get him back as a client. Kessler is impressed by Harvey’s honesty in talking about why he did what he did last season, and about what Donna means to him (she’s the most important person in his life, awww). Kessler says he will sign with the firm again. But when he meets with Donna to sign a new letter of engagement, he realizes he can’t be around her and her office-inappropriate cleavage anymore, so he backs out.
Donna tells Faye the truth (well, one truth) – that Donna’s relationship with Kessler is what led to him dropping the firm. Faye says no need for an exit interview in that case, so are they off the hook on the Kessler thing? Maybe, maybe not.
Next week: Louis says he’s leaving.
Kim Moritsugu is a Toronto novelist and sometime TV show recapper. Her latest novel The Showrunner, available from your favourite bookseller, is a darkly humourous, suspenseful Hollywood-noir about female ambition inside the TV biz that has been called a “sophisticated, compelling, and surprisingly complex drama,” and has been optioned for development as a TV series.
Check out its book trailer here:
The Hungry Novelist 